


The Book and the Rose

by rebecca_selene



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Genre: F/M, Horror, atmospheric horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27264826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebecca_selene/pseuds/rebecca_selene
Summary: Belle opens a book she shouldn’t and loses consciousness. She awakens in the library, except it doesn’t feel right. And she’s suddenly alone. And something’s tapping at the window…
Relationships: Beast/Belle (Disney)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14
Collections: Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!





	The Book and the Rose

**Author's Note:**

  * For [captainellie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainellie/gifts).



“What’s this?” Kneeling on the floor, Belle pulled a stack of books off the bottom shelf in a corner of the library, revealing a darkened cubby in the wall. She lowered her body all the way to the ground and looked inside but only saw darkness. She wished Lumiere was nearby.

Sighing, she reached her hand into the cubby. She felt only cold stone and little bits of dirt or dust until her hand touched something soft and warm—

Belle screeched as a tiny gray mouse shot up her arm, then launched itself off her shoulder and across the library. She laughed a little at herself as the sound of a chair being knocked over reverberated through the huge room. Beast came running. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just a mouse.” Belle went back to the cubby.

“A mouse? In my castle?” Beast growled and scanned the floor.

“It’s probably not the only one. Aha!” Belle pulled the item she’d felt from the cubby and lay it across her lap. It was a leather-bound book, curiously warm. From its cover a hideous horned face with a ring through its mouth glared at her, like a door knocker warning her away from opening its pages. She brushed her fingers over the raised pattern in the leather.

“Did you—” Beast cut himself off, his voice going growly and tense again. “Put that back!”

Belle couldn’t take her eyes from the book. Despite its foreboding image, she felt compelled to open it. “Oh come on. No harm ever came from reading a book.” She flipped it open to the first page.

“NO!” But it was too late. A swirl of sickly yellow smoke emanated from the pages, wrapping around her neck and pulling her in like a lover. The ground gave way under her, and she fell into darkness.

***

She woke with her face pressed into a page of the book. Her body protested every movement from lying on the cold, hard floor of the library as she pushed herself to her feet. The sky had turned to dusk, leaving long shadows on the library’s floor. There was a smell that reminded her of lightning and carrion. Though the air had become sweltering, making the room feel heavy and close, goosebumps rose on her arms.

“Beast?”

Silence. She picked up the open book. On the first page, it read simply, _Choose. Yes, or no?_ She flipped to the next page, but it and all the rest were blank.

A sharp, hollow _tap_ made her jump. She looked around, then toward the window. Just outside, a chubby red robin, so like the ones she and Beast had fed the day before, perched on the windowsill. She exhaled and moved toward the window to let the tiny creature inside.

It tapped the glass again, hard, stopping Belle in her tracks. A tiny beak like that shouldn’t have produced such a ringing sound. Another red robin joined the first, followed by two blue ones, a yellow. They all tapped the glass, slowly at first, and more and more birds came, filling the floor-to-ceiling window.

Their little necks grew frantic, their tapping a perverted staccato song that made the window shake and soon turned into a sharp roar. Clutching the book to her chest, Belle backed away, mesmerized.

A crack appeared in a pane.

Soon a spiderweb of fractured glass marred the window’s face. Belle’s eyes widened and her breath caught in realization just as the first pane exploded into shards. The rest followed in an avalanche of shattering and squawking and streaks of colors in flight.

Belle ran for the door.

It slammed shut behind her, the trapped birds on the other side screeching in a fury she never thought possible from such melodious, peaceful creatures. Her heart racing, she stood with her back against the door for several long moments. The noises continued unabated.

Shaking, Belle moved further into the hallway, willing the library doors not to open. When they didn’t, she allowed herself to look away and realized all the candles had gone out. It was deathly still, the air warmer than spaces subject to old castle drafts had a right to be.

“Beast?” she tried to call, but her voice broke and died on the syllable. She took a steadying breath, then headed for the West Wing, hoping to find him there.

She pushed open the door to his room, where the temperature suddenly plummeted. Shivering, she stepped around the broken furniture and inched her way toward the balcony.

“Beast?” she whispered.

The enchanted rose floated in its glass enclosure, but while it had felt soothing the first time she’d trespassed here, now it cast an eerie pink glow on the stone walls. The light seemed thick and alive, hitting objects as if daring Belle to cast her gaze upon them.

The curtains on the balcony moved. Belle gasped and backed away. A wolf howled in the distance, the sound dying along with the breeze.

After several moments, Belle continued into the room, trying to peer through the shadows for any sign of someone familiar.

Preparing to step onto the balcony, she’d just reached the table with the rose and Beast’s enchanted mirror when the book grew scorching in her hands. She yelped and dropped it. It landed, somehow, on the table, rattling the mirror and causing another petal to fall. The cover flew open, the letters now blood red. _CHOOSE. YES OR NO?_ The ink dripped down the page.

“Choose what?” Belle cried, hands clutched in front of her chest.

“The book or the rose.”

Belle spun around. Beast stepped out of a shadowy corner, his face drawn, shoulders slumped.

“Oh!” Belle flung herself into his arms. She stayed in his embrace until her adrenaline had run its course.

Finally, she pulled away. “But what do you mean, the book or the rose? What’s happening?” she demanded.

Beast sighed. “I was cursed to look like this by an enchantress.” He held up a paw to forestall her next question. “Wait, let me get this out. A year later, someone who revealed himself to be a demon came and offered me a choice. I could be rid of the enchantress’ curse and its…conditions”—he waved toward the rose—“for a price.”

“What price?” Belle whispered. The howls of several wolves floated through the open archway.

Beast shrugged. “I don’t know. I was done meddling with enchantresses and magic. It never got me anywhere I wanted to be. I hid the book and told myself to forget it.”

Belle moved toward the table, examining the book. “Did you forget? It never tempted you to consider the offer?”

“Of course it did. I went back and opened the book once. I saw the same word you did. Choose. But I was too cowardly to make a decision and threw the book back where I’d left it. I haven’t touched it since.”

Belle frowned. “That doesn’t explain what’s happening now. When you opened the book, did the castle grow hot? Did the animals start acting strangely?”

“No.” He moved to stand behind her, peering over her shoulder.

“But then why—”

“Maybe it’s because the question was never meant for you, and the book didn’t know what else to do when you opened it. It did come from a demon, after all.”

“Oh.”

Beast made a soft snorting noise. Belle turned to find him gazing ahead with a smirk. She followed his gaze but saw nothing except the wall. “Beast?”

“It’s nothing. Come on, we need to find the others.” He swept his way toward the door.

Belle started to follow, but then went back to grab the book and, after a moment’s hesitation, the mirror.

She and Beast made their way through the halls, meeting no one, until they reached her room. “Why are we here?” she asked, wiping sweat from her brow.

“To see if anyone’s inside. They like you more than they like me.”

Belle pursed her lips against her retort and followed him into her room. She glanced at the window, but it was clear of living creatures. In the hazy light of the nearly set sun, she could tell the room was clear as well. Even Wardrobe had disappeared.

Belle sighed. “Let’s try the kitchen next. Mrs. Potts wouldn’t want to leave all her teacups, and Chef Bouche would have a difficult time moving from his spot.” She moved toward the door.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Belle blinked and turned back. Beast was leaning against the wall, looking through the window to the landscape outside.

“The sunset?” she asked.

Beast chuckled. “Yes, the sun. It’s been so lonely here, and dark. You brought it here.”

Amused, she said, “You give me too much credit. And clearly I’ve been reading you too much poetry.”

He sighed. “You’re the only light this place has seen for so long. But your doubt in yourself shuts it away again. See, the sun has now fully set.”

“Hmm. Not quite.” She pointed to the two spots of red left on the horizon, shimmering against the window’s glass. “You can enjoy it for a few moments more.”

“Ah, but that’s not the sunset.”

“What is it, then?”

“The monster within.”

Belle whirled around, checking each corner of the room as best she could, but she saw no red glows or monsters lurking. “There’s no monster here!”

“Are you sure?”

She faced him, jabbing a finger in his direction. “Don’t scare me like—”

Beast turned his head. The red in his eyes burned.

“No!” Belle’s hand flew to her mouth, and she nearly dropped the book and the mirror from her other hand. Reminded of their presence, she scrambled to right the mirror. “Show me the Beast!”

Beast’s face, eyes wide and blue, filled the mirror. “Belle, RUN!” he roared.

She ran. A deep laugh straight from her nightmares followed her.

Blindly she raced through the moonlit corridors, unable to think about where she should go or process any of her surroundings. She didn’t know how much time had passed before she heard her name being called.

She ducked behind a suit of armor and crouched, trying to hear sounds of pursuit over her racing heart. She peeked around the stone plinth but saw no movement.

Hands shaking, she straightened the mirror. Beast’s face, lips moving, still filled the glass. She realized he was the one saying her name.

“What is going on?” she whispered, fighting back tears.

“Get back to the West Wing, Belle. I’ll get you out of there, I…I give you my word.”

Belle shook her head, trying to clear it. “How?”

“There’s no time! Just bring the book and the mirror back to the West Wing! Hurry!”

A door slammed at the end of the corridor. She jumped up, knocking the armor over into a series of cacophonous metal crashes. She sprinted toward the stairs, the ground under her feet vibrating from the steps of something behind her.

Nearly mindless with terror, Belle grasped at the only solution that had been presented to her: the West Wing. Another laugh tracked her as she ran, almost making her legs go weak. She forced herself on, until the eerie glow of the rose guided her the rest of the way.

“Now what?” she screeched, feeling herself near hysterics. The walls bounced from the force of whatever demon was nearly upon her.

“Put the book on the table!” Beast cried. “Open it!”

She did. Just a single word filled the page:

**C  
H  
O  
O  
S  
E**

The door to the room splintered off its hinges, the stone around it crumbling under the weight of a massive blow. Belle gasped and stumbled toward the balcony, away from the hulking red-eyed demon filling the newly made gap. It grinned, baring sharp, jagged teeth at her.

“I choose the rose!” Beast screamed from the mirror. “I CHOOSE THE ROSE.”

The demon’s grin disappeared. Pink tendrils of smoke surrounded Belle. “NO!” the demon cried, reaching to grasp Belle with a clawed hand just as the world went dark.

***

“Was what it said true? About the demon and the enchantress?” Belle asked, wrapped tightly in a blanket and having been plied with enough tea from Mrs. Potts that she’d finally stopped glancing nervously at the window.

From his seat at the edge of her bed, Beast replied, “Yes.”

Belle curled up tighter inside the blanket, processing this information in a way she hadn’t been able to while under the spell of the demonic version of the castle. “What happened to the book?”

“No one’s seen it. I ordered it to be burned immediately if anyone finds it.” Beast growled and wiped a hand over his face. “I watched you the whole time through the mirror, unable to speak to you until you used yours to see me. It was…unfair to make you stay here. To have to meet that version of me, learn about me that way. I…I’m…”

“Was there anything it said that wasn’t true?”

Beast bowed his head, refusing to look at her. “You’ll have to decide how much of the monster you saw is in the monster you see now.”

After a pause, Belle unwrapped herself and scooted toward him. She cupped his cheek in her hand, and he flinched at the touch. She examined his blue eyes closely, then smiled. “This,” she said, curling up against him, “is _my_ choice.”


End file.
